Humanities Scholars Program

Now accepting postdoc applications: due February 1, 2025. Click here to apply.

The Humanities Scholars Program fosters independent, interdisciplinary undergraduate research in the humanities, and provides a supportive community, through a series of curated courses, structured mentorship, special programming, and research opportunities and funding.

What's it like to be a student in HSP?

Listen to two HSP seniors discuss their research projects in the Humanities Pod, produced by Cornell's Society for the Humanities.

Faculty director Verity Platt, Professor of Classics and History of Art, leads the HSP cohort of nearly sixty juniors and seniors in 2024-25. She is joined by the Humanities Scholars Program Faculty Advisory Board: Amiel Bize, Assistant Professor of Anthropology; Laura Brown, John Wendell Anderson Professor of English; Seema Golestaneh, Associate Professor of Near Eastern Studies; and Alexander Livingston, Associate Professor of Government and Interim Director of the Society for the Humanities.

Accepted students must declare a major, or a minor, in the humanities; take a minimum of five approved courses as described below; produce an honors thesis or capstone project (which could be in their major outside the humanities); and present at the annual Humanities Scholars Conference. Students who fulfill program requirements will receive a certificate to recognize them as a College of Arts & Sciences Humanities Scholar.

1. HSP Core Courses: SHUM 2750, SHUM 3750, and SHUM 4750 (or their equivalents) are required for completion of the Humanities Scholars Program. 

• SHUM 2750 Introduction to Humanities is offered each fall and spring on rotating themes. HSP students should complete this course ideally in the fall of their junior year. Students may also complete this gateway seminar during their freshmen or sophomore years in preparation for applying to HSP. 
• SHUM 3750 Humanities Research Methods is offered each spring and should be taken before the semester students complete their capstone projects (ideally junior year).
• SHUM 4750 Senior Capstone Seminar provides a structured setting for independent work, peer feedback, and faculty mentorship on the student's capstone project or honors thesis. 
• Note: Some Humanities Scholars may substitute one or more of the above courses with departmental equivalents with permission from the director.

2. HSP Elective Courses: Choose two electives from our approved list. These courses help students discover research material unique to Cornell, work with research librarians and collection specialists, and cultivate research and oral presentation skills.

• Electives may be taken at any time before or during participation in the Humanities Scholars Program.
• HSP courses can count toward both the Program and the students’ major(s). Students may also petition the Program to count additional courses in their home departments.

3. Capstone Project and Conference Presentation: Humanities Scholars must complete a capstone project or departmental honors thesis and present their projects at the annual Humanities Scholars Conference in May.

Along the way, the Humanities Scholars Program will regularly host: 

• Brown bag lunch workshops featuring faculty, alums, and professionals
• Coffee and study hours
• Peer-to-peer feedback structures
• Additional faculty and post-doctoral mentoring of research projects
• Workshops for career development inside and outside humanities
• Summer research and internship funding competitions 

4. Recommended Plan of Study (Timeline)

• Junior Year in HSP
  • Students should enroll in SHUM 2750 (fall or spring) and SHUM 3750 (spring) or their equivalents.
  • Near the end of junior year, students should articulate a research question that can be developed into a senior capstone project.
  • Identify a faculty member to advise the project by the end of junior year. We recommend choosing a faculty member (that you've taken a class with) from a humanities department. If the advisor will be on sabbatical, a plan for substitution should be discussed.
• Senior Year in HSP
  • Students should enroll in SHUM 4750 (fall and spring).
  • Spend the fall semester fleshing out and researching the capstone project. We recommend checking in with your advisor bi-weekly in the fall to receive feedback.
  • Set up an Independent Study for spring semester with your advisor to work on the project (recommended, but not required).
  • Spring semester should focus on writing/completing the project and preparing to present it at the Humanities Scholars Research Conference in May.  

Click here to view programs from previous HSP conferences, featuring HSP seniors and other students in the humanities.

The Humanities Scholars Program offers competitive funding for undergraduate research projects, as well as summer stipends to support HSP participants who wish to complete unpaid or minimally paid summer internships in the humanities. HSP's research grant applications are available year-round and summer experience grant applications are typically due mid-April. Summer experience grants are only open to the rising seniors in the HSP cohort. 

Eligible students are Cornell sophomores who declare a major or minor in the humanities. Students do not need to be in Arts & Sciences; we welcome students with humanities minors from all colleges. Students should be in their sophomore year at the time of application (or have two years of study left to complete the program). HSP is happy to work around plans for study abroad. Students must be fully enrolled at Cornell University to take part in HSP activity. We will post the application link on our website in January. The application deadline has typically been March 1st.

To apply, students will need to submit the following:

1. An electronic transcript or eTranscript (PDF).  These can take one business day to process, so plan ahead.
2. A short essay (700 words maximum) in response to one of the following prompts:
   • Choose a historical moment or artwork (novel, film, poem, play, painting, installation, comic, etc.) and explain why it stuck with you and/or why it is important for you.
   • Explain how a big issue (climate change, artificial intelligence, migration, democracy and media, for instance) might be understood through humanistic research and knowledge.

The Humanities Scholars Program invites applications on an annual basis from Cornell PhD candidates and recent Cornell PhDs for one-year Postdoctoral Associate positions beginning each August. Each position offers a salary of $65,000/year and a $2,000 research fund for the year. For more information, see the HSP Postdoctoral Fellowships page. Applications are due February 1, 2025.

Social Media:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cornellhsp 
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CornellHSP
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/CornellHSP